< I don't, myself, see any reason to debate any of the concepts I mentioned earlier anymore -- and as another poster pointed out years ago -- you are in the "Bible Bubble". Once you get in there, it's hard to get out.>
Yes I hear that a lot. Basically...its "turn up the music" and it'll all work out. For sure..if it doesn't matter...it doesn't matter.
I guess what disturbs me more than anything is how we can live in such a nonchalant state of mind. People who can live with the idea that reality is nothing than a ke sera sera experience. Living with the idea that "this time" and "this place" is all that counts seems sort of shallow. Thinking that "when yer dead yer dead" is the ultimate summation of all the laughing, tears, hard work, screw ups,honors and punishments...is, well...I guess the word that comes to mind is...futile....especially when the evidence to the contrary screams to us. That being said... I have a lot of repect for true athiesm though. If you have the guts of a Netizche or a Sarte to openly declare the "There really is nothing ultimately but the abyss of nothingness"...or that Man is nothing ultimately but a useless passion...tghen i commend you...even if you can not actually bear to live that out in real life. But of course thats just one mans' opinion.
Its a little uncomfortable...isn't it? Being asked to drop the pretense and seriously look at what IS clear to us all, I mean. Its so easy to ignore what we'd rather not admit about ourselves and pretend that "no one knows for sure". and..."Heck even if this religious stuff does happen to be true..i know I'll be in pretty good stead cuz i aint ever dun nuthin THAT bad. Lots of 'em been worse than me....right?
Truly...I mean no offense to anyone..its just that it seems to me that even a cusory look at reality proves that there is more to reality than "this time" and "this place". Thats the whole reason that i even bring up this ID stuff. Over and above the scientific data (the laws of causality, Thermodynamics, the laws of motion and even our inborn knowlege of right and wrong, and abiliy to be self aware) that are idisputable...there is more.....
I think that most here are familiar with the traditional arguments for the existence of God that i have already mentioned, at least in passing...but there is another one that comes from a little different perspective and you may not have taken the time to consider it yet. It goes like this.
I have been given innumerable blessings (lots a luck??)...and I, myself (If I am being honest) had not one thing to do with my getting them. Finding myself in possesion of these I feel an ethical responsibility (is that a cuss word?) to say....."thank you"...but to whom?? If I really am simply the product of atoms careening through a mindless universe...there is no one to express this grattitude to (guess we COULD thank the turkey at Thanksgiving)...and yet that ethical need is real....thats why most of us at least PRETEND to acknowledge the prayer.
But....the next level of the argument is where the real authority is. You see...the one who has recieved all these benefits must himself first recognize his impotence in having had the ability to acquire them. Recognizing this ought to make one drop to his knees and begin to express thanks that never ends.....and THAT is precisley what the Book says we spend our lives atempting to avoid. This argument, although perfectly logical,...can be very disturbing....and there is a definite aroma to it. For one drawn to faith in God...it is the smell of life. But for those who persist in their denial of what is clear...it is the stench of death.
What I mean is this. When we stop and consider the heavens and the earth beneath our feet most of us yawn. But...take the simplist things in reality...like say, an acorn. Have you ever stopped to consider how the acorn grows and where it gets the CO2 to make the majestic Oak tree??? The acorn is an ingenius device for making a beautiful tree...out of air!...for cryin out loud! Who ever thought of this and where can I thank him??
Wehn we see we have been granted another day of life we should be filled with thanksgiving. (more yawning I suspect). When it becomes apparent that the food is still there on the table after the Thanksgiving prayer...we ought to close our eyes and thank Him again. And just think of it...we get not only nourishment from food...but the added benefit of...taste! Lets face it...all of our food could have the flavor and consistency of ..paste. But we have been given barbecue sauce, citrus, blackened chicken, onions, sweet corn red wine...cheeseburgers with bacon...and on ad infinitum.
I mentioned it before...the wonder of human body construction, I mean. When we hold up our hands and really look at them we ought to be astonished at the engineering that went into them. (or was it a piece of carbon and lithium and silicon that decided to do something exciting one day when things were kind slow???) Seriously...what do you think it would take for a scientist/engineer to build a hand that could transfer sensations of a caress and also grow calluses for playing the guitar???...and the engineering is not limited to just one part of the body either. Consider the liver...or an ankle evolving by chance?...lets not even consider the obvious simplicity of the brains function...coordinating millions of nerve responses per second to allow us to waste time on the computer.
Language is another thing. Here I am at this keyboard...way across the country typing these words into this processing device that (so ive been told) is nothing more than beach sand and 1's and 0's. These words will be on thier way in just a few seconds via wires, electrical signals and optical cables and will soon be irritating the hell of other human beings and you will know what I was just thinking!!! Who in the world is ultimately responsible for all of this??? T'want me Mcgee. But..shouldn't we thank someone??
Then there is music (along with the rest of our simple universe..but i labor much too long already) Think of it. Music and our ability to appreciate it..well SOME of it anyway. Music as varied as food!....jazz, blues, rock, psalms...You see if i stretch a string really tight and pluck it..it vibrates soem ingeniusly constructed bones in my middle ear...and..I HEAR things!! When i hold a musical instrument in my hands..whom should I ultimately thank..the guitar maker..or the One who instilled the very ability to construct this magnificent instrument in the first place????
You see these kinds of thoughts are anything but "futile". They simply express what most of us spend out whole lives denying and supressing lest they convict us our unfathomable ingrattitude. We tell ourselves that it is OUR ability and OUR character that is to be praised and worshipped because we are so hard working, dedicated, and darn it...just good folk.
All i am doing here folks is suggesting that it is time to get real. It ought to be clear by now that at whatever level of existence we currently enjoy that we are really only the recipient of...not the uiltimate cause of. The true Being responsible for it all is powerful..and yes, terrible beyond anything we can begin to fathom. It also ought to be obvious that if you, at this moment are tempted to just "turn up the music" and ignore what truth you have just read...then you are in deep weeds. It ought to be clear that if you do NOT know who this God/Causer is... you must drop everything until you find out. He is mysterious for sure. His ways are NOT our ways...but it also ought to be clear that if you are still reading this diatribe...that He has had mercy upon you....which you certainly do not deserve...and you know it. It is not a mercy that he has given to everyone (and no ethical mandate exists saying He HAS to be mercyful to anyone). Is there ANY feeling of grattiude in yo